This invention relates generally to computer-user interaction, and more particularly to a multi-level decision-analytic approach to failure and repair in such interaction.
Generally, computer-user interaction has focused on the user conforming more to idiosyncrasies of the computer than vice-versa. For example, while users in noncomputer interactions (such as human-human interactions) typically communicate with a combination of verbal and nonverbal signals, this is generally not done with computer-user interactions. Rather, the user is forced to input information into a computer in a manner more easily understood by the computerxe2x80x94such as constrained voice inputs, text input from a keyboard, pointing, movement and clicking input from a mouse, etc. As a result, this imposed unnaturalness of the computer-user interface has played a part in hampering efforts to make computers easier to use and more an intuitive part of everyday life.
In human-human dialog, speakers and listeners elegantly coordinate the presentation and acceptance of utterances to achieve and confirm mutual understanding. In the process, they make decisions under uncertainty that minimize the risk of misunderstanding and contribute to furthering the goals of the activity. Uncertainty usually always plays a part in dialog. For example, a listener may be uncertain about the articulation of an utterance. Likewise, a speaker may be uncertain about the attentiveness or comprehension of the listener. Although participants may tolerate a small degree of uncertainty, an excessive amount in a given context can lead to misunderstanding along with all of its associated costs, such as the unwanted premature termination of a joint activity.
In human-computer dialog, the success of spoken interaction systems that integrate component technologies such as speech recognition, text to speech, and natural language generation, relies upon the precision of the component technologies. However, while uncertainty and imprecision characterize human-human dialog, people manage quite well in most situations. They display not only the ability to reason about key uncertainties and their costs, but they also exploit strategies such as grounding for collaboratively resolving them. Conversely, prior-art approaches to managing uncertainty within human-computer dialog usually perform much less well.
Prior art approaches to resolving uncertainty within computer-human dialog, such as uncertainty about the attentiveness and comprehension of the listener, are typically ad hoc. The prior art approaches generally do not reason about the sources of the uncertainty and how to resolve them. For example, they generally do not distinguish between communication failures due to poor fidelity of the communication channel or the user simply not being attentive at the time of the utterance execution. This makes for less robust and less flexible systems when uncertainty is encountered, and leads to a less natural contextual experience for the user.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.
The invention relates to a multi-level decision-analytic approach to failure and repair within computer-user communications. In one embodiment, a computerized system repairs communication failure within a computer-user interaction context, and includes a maintenance module, an intention module, and a conversation control subsystem. The maintenance module manages uncertainty regarding signal identification and channel fidelity. The intention module is supported by the maintenance module, and manages uncertainty about the recognition of user""s goals from signals. The conversation control subsystem surrounds both the modules, and manages the joint activity between the computer and the user, as well as one or more high-level events regarding the joint activity.
Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, each of the modules and the control subsystem manage uncertainty at different levels. The maintenance module manages uncertainty at the channel level and the signal level. The intention module manages uncertainty at the intention level. The conversational control subsystem manages uncertainty at the conversation level.
In this manner, embodiments of the invention provide for advantages over the prior art. By discerning where the uncertainty lies within a computer-user dialog, the inventive system is able to more naturally recover from any failure that may result from the uncertainty. For example, the manner by which repair is accomplished when uncertainty lies at the channel levelxe2x80x94e.g., there is a failure between the basic link between the computer and the userxe2x80x94is different than when uncertainty lies at the intention levelxe2x80x94e.g., the user is not understanding the computer""s intentions, or viceversa. The end result is that the computer-user interaction experience is more natural for the user involved.
Embodiments of the invention include computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and computerized systems of varying embodiments. Still other embodiments, advantages and aspects of the invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description, and by reference to the drawings.